Nijo Castle

元離宮二条城

The shogun's castle with singing floors

⚠ Ninomaru shut Tue in Jan/Jul/Aug/Dec

Hours

Entry 8:45am–4pm, closes 5pm; closed 29–31 Dec. Ninomaru Palace closed Tuesdays in Jan, Jul, Aug and Dec, plus 26–28 Dec and 1–3 Jan

Tickets

Castle + Ninomaru Palace ¥1,300 (grounds only ¥800); Honmaru Palace +¥1,000, booking required. At the gate or via the official web tickets (Asoview)

Address

541 Nijojo-cho, Nakagyo-ku, west of Horikawa-dori

The Tokugawa shoguns' base in Kyoto; the heart of it is the Ninomaru Palace. Walk its corridors and the floorboards chirp like birds, the so-called nightingale floors, said to warn of intruders. Room after room has gold-leaf screens painted with tigers and pines, and one recreates the 1867 handover of power to the emperor with figures. Afterwards a path circles the Ninomaru garden, the broad moat and the stone walls.